1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates broadly to systems and methods for managing the release or dispensation of coins. More particularly, the present invention concerns a system and method for managing the release or dispensation of coins of one or more denominations into, for example, cash drawers or tills used by cashiers or coin canisters used in automated dispensing machines, wherein such management involves analyzing a variety of relevant factors in determining an appropriate number or value of coins to dispense, and also involves facilitating reconciliation of the coins dispensed from the system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Grocery stores and other retail and wholesale business establishments that use cash registers to facilitate sales and other business transactions must regularly stock, “construct”, or “rebuild” cash drawers, tills, or coin canisters with coins of various denominations for issuance to and use by cashiers, clerks, or other personnel or automated check-out machines, and must periodically or eventually reconcile or balance those same tills or canisters to ensure that the coins remaining therein accurately reflect sales or other transaction records.
Most businesses typically construct new tills by manually counting a number or value of coins of each particular denomination, and then adding the counted coins to the tills by hand. Similarly, most businesses reconcile used tills by manually removing the remaining coins of each denomination from the tills and counting the number or value of those coins by hand. Thus, it will be appreciated that stocking and reconciling tills is a time and labor intensive activity that may be repeated hundreds of times each day in larger stores. Furthermore, manual counting may result in errors, and when such errors occur it may be necessary to recount the coins in question. In an effort to save time, some businesses use only rolled coins when rebuilding tills. Unfortunately, this can substantially increase overall costs because banks normally charge between three and seven cents per coin roll.
Prior art systems and methods are known for automating some aspects of till construction and reconciliation, but suffer from a number of problems and disadvantages, including, for example, the continued requirement that accounting personnel manually perform many of the steps involved. These prior art system and methods therefore continue to be time and labor intensive and prone to miscounting errors. Another problem with prior art systems and methods of till construction and reconciliation is a need to repeatedly perform pick-ups (i.e., remove excess coins from the tills), loans (i.e., add extra coins to the tills for change-making purposes), or purchases of additional coins by the cashiers. As these activities typically involve several employees, the associated time and labor costs continue to be substantial.
In order to increase efficiency and cut costs, many businesses have installed substantially automated coin dispensing machines to supplement the cashier's regular till. In use, a cash register sends control signals to the coin dispensing machine, causing its automated dispensing machinery to dispense an appropriate amount of change from an internal, removable cannister. The cashier need only accept cash and change to his or her till and dispense cash therefrom. Unfortunately, the coins loaded into the coin dispensing machines are considered part of the till, requiring that the coin dispensing machines be reconciled along with the till when changing cashiers. This can be a time-consuming activity and is often impractical.
In another attempt to increase efficiency and cut costs, many businesses have installed unmanned, fully-automated self-checkout systems. Typically, a single employee will monitor a number of these self-checkout systems to identify or address any problems that users may encounter. Each self-checkout system uses automated dispensing machinery, including coin canisters, for accepting and dispensing both cash and coins. It is often very difficult, however, to monitor and maintain enough coins in the self-checkout system to transact business for long periods of time while accounting for and balancing the coins added during replenishment, the coins received from customers, and the coins dispensed to customers. Furthermore, while the self-checkout systems may increase efficiency and cut costs by reducing the number of cashiers, they have no effect on the time and labor costs associated with constructing and reconciling the canisters.
Additionally, it can often be extremely difficult to determine an appropriate or necessary number or value of coins to include when constructing tills or canisters, or how many loans or purchases of coins will likely be made during a given shift or day. Providing too few coins will result in more frequent loans or purchases of coins by cashiers, or require more frequent replenishment of the automated dispensing machinery. Providing too many coins may make reconciliation even more time consuming, and may raise security issues. Predicting the appropriate or necessary amount of coins to include when constructing tills or canisters is made even more difficult by the fact that needs may vary considerably over the course of any given day, week, or other time period, and may spike during holidays or weekends.
Due to these and other problems and disadvantages in the prior art, an improved system and method is needed for managing the dispensation of coins when constructing tills for use by cashiers or canisters for use in automated dispensing machinery.